The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of teaching with graduated guidance on teaching the playing backgammon skill, which is one of the leisure skills, to children with "Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)". Three children with ASD participated in this research. A multiple probe design across the participants was used in…

Children on the autism spectrum often experience difficulty generalizing social skills across environments and contexts, which can make developing friendships challenging in early childhood. This means that, in addition to initial social skills instruction, children with autism may need specialized supports to promote the generalization of newly…

Purpose: This tutorial summarizes current best practices in treating American English /r/ distortions in children with residual speech errors. Method: To enhance the effectiveness of clinicians' cueing and feedback, the phonetics of /r/ production is reviewed. Principles of acquisition, which can inform how to practice /r/ in the early stages of…

Objectives: The effects of iPod-based visual activity schedules with embedded video models (video-enhanced activity schedules) on the academic skills and challenging behavior of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) were evaluated. Methods: A multiple baseline design across three target skills was used with two participants, ages 9 and 11,…

This pilot investigation evaluated the effectiveness of siblings as generalisation agents in an 8-week social skills training (SST) program designed for boys with Asperger syndrome (AS). Twenty-one boys aged 8-12 participated in a SST group alone, with a sibling, or remained in a wait-list control group. After training, participants'…

Early and intensive behavioral intervention (EIBI) has been established as an effective treatment for autism. However, the complexity and intensity of EIBI programs make it difficult to fully report all critical aspects of the independent variable. Consequently, scientific reports of EIBI outcomes have been criticized for providing less than…

Research supports the difficulties that students with Asperger's Syndrome (AS) and High-Functioning Autism (HFA) have in developing successful interpersonal relationships. While they want to establish friendships, students with AS fail to recognize and accurately interpret social cues and verbal and nonverbal behavior (Iovannone, Dunlap, Huber, &…

Two experiments were conducted to investigate generalized imitation of manual gestures in 1- to 2-year-old infants. In Experiment 1, 6 infants were first trained four baseline matching relations (e.g., when instructed "Do this," to raise their arms after they saw the experimenter do so). Next, four novel gestures that the infants did not match in…

A system of graduated guidance was used to teach three children (ages six through nine) with severe multiple disabilities to don and remove their jackets and coats independently. The training approach involved initial use of oversized garments, fading of guidance, and individualized reinforcement. Skill maintenance and generalization were also…

A problem-solving strategy to prevent work injuries, involving temporary use of cue cards, was successfully taught in a supported employment setting to nine adults with mild to moderate mental retardation. Interviews and staged generalization assessments before and after the 12-week training indicated trainees generalized their new problem-solving…

Children and adolescents with Asperger Syndrome are intellectually capable, rigid and often obsessive, adhere to stereotypic routines, demonstrate difficulties with pragmatic language and characteristically lack social skills. While the extent of these behaviors may wax and wane and vary by individual, they are in stark contrast with the high…